Following the PlayStation 3's security breach in January, Sony has aggressively gone after those responsible for releasing the security key that allows people to run unauthorized software on their consoles. The publisher has also been investigating ways in which it plans to deal with the fallout from that opening of the Pandora's box among average gamers, and today, the publisher issued a statement detailing those plans.

In a notice posted to the PlayStation Blog, Sony said that it will permanently ban all PS3 consoles from the PlayStation Network and Qriocity media service if a security circumvention device or pirated software is detected.

"Notice: Unauthorized circumvention devices for the PlayStation 3 system have been recently released by hackers," reads the update. "These devices permit the use of unauthorized or pirated software. Use of such devices or software violates the terms of the 'System Software License Agreement for the PlayStation 3 System' and the 'Terms of Services and User Agreement' for the PlayStation Network/Qriocity and its Community Code of Conduct provisions."

"Violation of the System Software License Agreement for the PlayStation 3 System invalidates the consumer guarantee for that system," the notice continues. "In addition, copying or playing pirated software is a violation of International Copyright Laws. Consumers using circumvention devices or running unauthorized or pirated software will have access to the PlayStation Network and access to Qriocity services through PlayStation 3 system terminated permanently."

"To avoid this, consumers must immediately cease use and remove all circumvention devices and delete all unauthorized or pirated software from their PlayStation 3 systems," the post concludes. The publisher did not provide a date for when it will begin to enforce the ban on violators.

Sony social media manager Jeff Rubenstein went on to note that today's update is the company's "initial response" to concerns over the console's security. "By identifying PlayStation 3 systems that breach our guidelines and terminating their ability to connect to PlayStation Network, we are protecting our business and preserving the honest gameplay experiences that you expect and deserve," he said.

Sony's security headache began last month, when iPhone jailbreaker George Hotz, aided by the hacking group fail0verflow, released a set of security keys that indicated to the system that any given bit of code has been approved by Sony to run on the console. This release cracked the PS3 wide open for people to install and run unauthorized software on the system, from homebrew applications to pirated games and custom firmware.